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Friday, December 02, 2016

Jem Reviewed: Episode 37 - The Jazz Player

Hello,
everybody! This is not only the 37th
episode review for the cartoon series, Jem, but it's also Day #2
of the POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR!

Last week, we watched Jem and the Holograms thwart the plans of a magician who
wanted to take over a show. I wonder
what will be in store this week?

Let's find out in Episode 37: The Jazz Player!

It's
nighttime at Starlight Mansion, and you know what that means! Lindsey Pearce's video show is on. And as a bit of a switch, Lindsey has
decided to invite the leader of a popular jazz band of the 1940s, Taps Tucker, for an interview and a performance.
Most of the girls in the room are thrilled to watch the show, but Kimber
feels as though it's too old-fashioned.
Kimber, have you learned nothing from the Bobby Bailey thing? Sheesh?

However, after 40 years, Taps Tucker still has it. He plays his lucky trumpet - the one he never leaves home
without, and plays a fantastic jazz solo.
It's enough to make Kimber eat her words and the rest of the Starlight girls
to become mesmerized by the sweet sound. Unfortunately,
that performance is interrupted by four rude women who think that jazz is out
and they are in.Can you guess who they
might be?

Ah, yes. The Misfits. Ironically, they're playing the same song
that they played when they were trying to evict Bobby Bailey from his
home! And once again, I'll state that
if they were singing about an ex-boyfriend, "Jack, Take a Hike" would
be a killer tune. Used in this context,
it's tasteless and rude.

Lindsey
seems to agree with my perspective, telling the Misfits that they've once again
blown the chance to be interviewed on her show, and that's enough for Jerrica
to shut the television off in disgust.
However, the Holograms come up with a brilliant idea. Since Taps Tucker still sounds great, why
not reunite the old band together for one more album. After all, Shana makes the remark that jazz was making a comeback
in the late 1980s (something that was actually true at the time), and it might
be a great surprise to bring Taps Tucker back with his band for one more jam
session.

But
when Jem and the Holograms track down Taps Tucker, they find that his life
isn't really all that fantastic. He's
living in a crummy old apartment with holes in the walls and dingy furniture. Which to me, I call shenanigans on, because
you'd think that he would at least get some royalties from his songs. He must have not had a great record company
backing him. At
first, Taps isn't sure he wants to go ahead with the reunion mainly because
it's been 40 years since they were last together. But Jem can be quite the persistent devil and tells him that she
knows a man who owns a jazz recording label and that if he agrees to reunite
the band for a comeback album, it might change his fortunes around. Eventually, Taps accepts Jem's offer, and
Jem gives Mark Rockwell a call.

As
it so happens, Jem calls right in the middle of a business deal between Mark
and Eric Raymond, who is making his own pitch for a jazz record
collection. It seems as though Eric has
been working on this pitch for a while, so naturally he'd be upset that Jem is
trying to butt in. Mark explains that
he only has enough resources to support one project, so he makes Jem a deal. If they can get the Taps Tucker Band together
in 24 hours time, he'll go with them.
Should they fail, Eric will get the deal. That's not a whole lot of time for Jem to work. It seems slightly unfair - but keep in mind
that Eric did get to Mark first.

Of
course, Eric and the Misfits aren't worried.
They plan to use Techrat to find out where each of the members of the
band are so they can make them disappear.
Nice, hacking into the database system to locate people. I'm pretty sure that's a crime.

But I guess Jem and the Holograms don't seem to worry about getting arrested
either because they make Synergy do the same exact thing! I'm thinking that there really should have
been an episode where Techrat tries to hack into Synergy. That would have been epic. But instead, we get the addresses and
workplaces of the three members of the Taps Tucker Band. Ace O'Toole, the saxophonist, isn't too far away. He lives in a small place called Duke's
Landing, so Jem sends Shana out to retrieve him. Bassist Dave Wilson is in Houston, Texas, so
she books a flight for Kimber to retrieve him.
And Aja's going to Seattle, Washington to meet up with Joey London, the drummer of the band.

But
as the girls are prepared to leave for their respective destinations, Ba Nee
arrives with the telephone. Taps Tucker
is on the line and he has bad news.
Someone broke into his apartment and stole his trumpet! Gee, I wonder who was responsible for
that? Whatever the case, Jem decides to
stay in town to locate Taps' horn, and she keeps Raya with her in case she
needs back up.

Now,
flying out to these locations is one thing, but the hard part is convincing the
band members that a reunion would be fun.
But in Aja's case, she needs not try too hard because Joey gives her an
emphatic yes! Seems as though Joey's
life has gone downhill and he owes a lot of money to a lot of loan sharks. The reunion could be what he needs to pay
back the money he owes.

But
Eric's already sent the Misfits out to wreak havoc...and Stormer is busy
sabotaging Aja's car so that they'll be stranded. But Stormer also notices a couple of creepy men entering the
apartment and wonders what's going on.

You
know those loan sharks that Joey owed money to? They're here to collect.
Fortunately, Aja kicks them both in the no-no spot and it allows her and
Joey to escape. But with Stormer
sabotaging the car, they're forced to hide in Seattle's underground city to
avoid getting caught. This doesn't look
good for Aja and Joey.

Over
at Duke's Landing, Shana is surprised to learn that Ace O'Toole has done very
well for himself and is legitimately happy in what he's doing. He's opened up a bar in the tiny coastal
town and his pride is his boat which he takes out every day. He's so happy that he doesn't feel the need
to reunite with his old band, and tells Shana this to her disappointment. But Shana does agree to go out on a tour in
his boat, hoping that she can somehow convince Ace to change his mind.

Roxy
and Jetta are upset that they went there for nothing, but they decide that
while they're in town, they'll empty out the fuel in his boat and disable radio
communications. What harm could come
from that?

Well, when Ace and Shana are out on the boat, they are unable to hear the storm
warnings, and soon both of them find themselves in the middle of what could be
called a mini-hurricane! Boy, those
Misfits know how to cause trouble!

In
Houston, Kimber meets up with Dave Wilson at the Astrodome, where he cleans the
stadium after every game or concert.
Not surprisingly, Dave decides that ANYTHING would be better than
cleaning the hundreds of toilets at the Astrodome, and he happily accepts
Kimber's invitation to reunite with his old band.

But before they can leave, they discover that every single door
is locked and it doesn't take a genius to figure out how that happened, as
Pizzazz appears on the jumbotron to let them know that they are trapped like
rats.

And
in this edition of Jem Trivia, I'll let you know that
this is only one of TWO episodes that features two songs by the Misfits (the
other one was the very first episode).
I do have to admit that "Trapped" is a great song...but I
question how all four Misfits could appear at the same time when they're
scattered all over the place. They must
have stolen a copy of their video when they were thrown off Lindsey's
show. And with Techrat tagging along
with Pizzazz, we know how they assumed control of the electrical panels.

Back
in Duke's Landing, the storm is violently shaking the boat, and it causes Ace
to fly over the side! Fortunately,
Shana is a strong swimmer, and swims out to save Ace's life. She seems to have enough strength to drag
Ace back to the boat. If this isn't
enough for Ace to change his mind about going back to the reunion, he must have
a heart of stone.

The
loan sharks have Aja and Joey surrounded, and they appear ready to turn both of
them into hamburger. But Stormer's in
the area too, and she is feeling might guilty for her role that she
played. She just wanted to keep them
from coming back in time, but she never wanted them to get hurt. So she causes a distraction by breaking a
window in the opposite direction which causes the loan sharks to flee. This gives Aja and Joey time to catch a cab
and get to the airport. Stormer looks
on, knowing that Eric will give her a hard time...but in the end, her good side
won out. Nicely played, Stormer.

And
in Houston, Dave seems to have an idea as to how they can get out as well. It's true that all the doors are sealed with
electric locks...but if they can cut off the power, then maybe the doors will
open back up. Dave finds the circuit
breaker, shuts it off, and the whole place goes dark. Techrat and Pizzazz are left confused wondering what was going
on, while Dave and Kimber make their great escape!

Back
home, Jem and Raya are with Taps trying to figure out who would steal Taps'
horn. Jem seems to have the idea that
the other person who was trying to get the deal with Mark might have tried to
sabotage the reunion on purpose, so she gives Mark a call to find out who the
other person is. When Mark tells her
that Eric Raymond is the second party, Jem and Raya quickly deduce that Eric
stole Taps' horn. Well, d-uh!!!

Of
course, Jem and Raya can't very well go into Misfits Music and ask Eric for the
horn back, so they need to resort to some trickery. They have Synergy disguise them as exterminators, and they tell
Eric that the building is infested with termites and that he needs to leave the
office immediately. Of course, Eric
tells them to bug off, but Raya does a fantastic job yelling at him and making
him feel guilty until he agrees to leave.

Once
he's gone, Jem and Raya look around the office and discover that Eric has Taps'
horn stashed away in a cupboard. But as
soon as they grab the horn and put it in their bag, Eric returns and accuses
the exterminators of stealing from him!
Well if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black!

Jem quickly manages to create a hologram of Taps' horn to fool Eric and Raya
can't resist yelling at Eric again for his false accusation! But Jem reminds Raya that as soon as they
leave, the hologram of the horn will disappear, so they need to get out fast!

Sure enough, the hologram of the horn vanishes, and a furious Eric runs out
into the hallway to try and catch the thieves.
He passes by a couple of weird looking potted plants that seem to be
completely out of place in his search.

Oh, that's because those plants are really Jem and Raya. Synergy's disguises are getting better!

Jem and Raya arrive back at Taps' apartment where Kimber, Aja, Joey, and Dave
have already arrived. And while Taps is
happily getting reacquainted with his former bandmates, Jem is worried that
Shana and Ace haven't arrived yet. They
decide to go down to Mark's office, hoping that they will be meeting him there.

Of course, we know that Shana and Ace are stuck in the middle of the
ocean. The storm is over, but they have
no way of getting back to shore. Ace is
extremely grateful to Shana for saving him, and Shana remarks that he can thank
her by agreeing to the reunion. Thankfully,
the coast guard spots Ace's boat and tows them to safety. The question is...can Ace and Shana make it
back to Los Angeles in time to stop the deal between Mark and Eric from going
through? I guess it all depends on how
far away Duke's Landing is from Los Angeles.

I
imagine it must be somewhat far, as when four-fifths Jem and the Holograms and
three-quarters of the Taps Tucker Band arrive at Mark's office, they see one
whole Eric Raymond smiling with glee that not everyone is there. Jem begs Mark to give them more time, but
Mark is a man of his word, and even though he believes that the Taps Tucker
Band would be a bigger draw for him, Eric legitimately did get to him first, so
he has to do what he feels is right.

But
before Mark can finish signing the contract, Shana and Ace arrive just in time,
and the Taps Tucker Band is reunited once more! Isn't it grand that Jem believes in happy endings? Of course, Eric is pissed and tries to justify that Mark signed his
contract...but Mark simply states that he never finished signing it, and shreds
the contract that he had with Eric to pieces right in front of his smug
face. Tough luck, Eric.

Mark
immediately signs the Taps Tucker Band to a new contract, and with that, the
first single is released - with a very special collaboration with a very
special band.

The song "Jazz Has" is a song that I kind of like. It blends the old with the new, and it's
definitely a new sound for Jem and the Holograms, but Britta Phillips' voice is
the main attraction of this single.

And to thank Jem for all her hard work, Taps Tucker reveals that he's going to
dedicate their comeback album to all of the Holograms. How nice!

I have to admit, I love this episode.
And in a way, it's a nice episode for the Christmas season. After all, isn't bringing back family and
friends for a celebration what the holidays are really all about? Of course, there's no Christmas lights or
egg nog in this episode, but it's still a nice one.

Coming up next week, the Holograms are filming a video for a contest hosted by
Xanthos about goodwill and friendship.
But when one of their pivotal team members gets seriously injured during
the filming, can she recover in time to get the job done?